Pierrot In Paris Halloween

It's that time of year.  The time of year when it's OK to dress up in whatever fantasy costume your little heart desires.  The time when eating candy, and sweets is not only OK, but encouraged, but best of all, it's the time when you can have a party with any theme you want, don't you love it?  This year I decided it would be fun to do a" Pierrot in Paris" theme

party.

I photocopied a print of Pierrot kissing a girl and put it in a black frame. I also photocopied a black & white photo of the Eiffel Tower onto vellum paper and wrapped it around a glass cylinder from the dollar store. It makes a great luminary.  I found this vintage French Script fabric on Ebay and ordered a 56" square piece :)

 

I just couldn't resist putting these little cakes on a bed of lime green sprinklet candies along with spider rings and a lacy sign that says " Let Them Eat Cake".  I think Marie A. would understand, lol.

The romantic in me just had to put these dark chocolate (French) kisses in my Candy Station.  Death by Dark Chocolate French Kisses, now that's my kind of poison ;)  These harlequin ribbons were perfect for my Pierrot theme.

I set out Lime Green glittered boxes (to fill with candy) that I lined with black & white damask (very french) wax paper.  The 3 signs at the table are all glittered, I just love the sparkle and glamour of glitter, it's like I never outgrew the glitter phase, lol

Here's a better  view of the entire candy station. The purple witches hat complete with feathers and a net with spiders is actually part of my costume, but it was so pretty, I decided to use it in the tablescape :)  It's perched on a cake platter to better show off the netting.

In my hutch, I dressed up the plates by sticking black glitter silhouettes with double sided tape on them. I just love how they turned out

From my heart, I wish you and your loved ones, a Happy, Safe, and Sweet Halloween!

Simple & Sensational Centerpieces for Fall

OK, you're looking for a beautiful centerpiece for the Fall, but your not a professional floral designer, or interior decorator, what do you do?  Well, look no further.  I've put together some inspirational ideas that are simple, beautiful, and best of all, easy and affordable.  Another great thing about these ideas is that all but one will take you all the way thru Thanksgiving.  Please feel free to ask any questions if I've left anything out or you need more information.  I love hearing from you :)

It doesn't get much easier than  this centerpiece, and yet it say's fall. Tie Autumn leaves around a glass cylinder with twine or raffia.  Be careful that the leaves don't reach above the rim since dry leaves are quite flammable.  The photo above is a beautiful pumpkin wrapped at the base with bittersweet vines.  You just can't go wrong when you bring Autumns glorious bounty to a centerpiece.

I love these glass candle holders filled with nuts and acorns.  The square votive can be found at your local dollar store along with the white pillar candles.

This charming centerpiece is right out of the garden.  A wooden basket filled with harvested vegetables, a vase of Swiss Chard, and a small clay  pot with Johnny Jump-ups.  Guests could take home the plant or the basket as a favor gift.

A simple burlap runner with white candle lanterns and fall gourds is the epitome of simple and elegant.

If your entertaining outside, consider turning a hollowed out pumpkin into a flower pot.  The pots are set inside the pumpkin and disguised with Spanish moss from the hobby store.  Since you've cut the pumpkin it will have a limited life, but rub some petroleum jelly on the inside of a cut pumpkin to extend it's life.

You can find dried wheat in the floral dept. at your grocery store, or in your hobby store. For this centerpiece it was simply placed in a tall glass vase (without water) and wrapped with an orange satin ribbon.  Use double sided tape to adhere the ribbon to the vase.

Aren't these glittered pumpkins on silver pedestals elegant. The secret here is  that the 3 pumpkins are set at different heights. For this effect use fine glitter one shade lighter than your pumpkins. The shine of the glitter with the silver gives it a simple yet elegant feel. 

For all out glitter glam, I love this vignette. The pumpkin and crow can be found at the dollar store and the ribbon, rose, feathers and urn can be found at your hobby store ( or you can spray paint an existing urn black).  For this glitter effect use a course dark orange glitter, it will give you a more dramatic sparkle :)

 How about an edible centerpiece? Here green beans and asparagus are wrapped around pillar candles and tied with gold ribbon, while the artichoke hearts have been removed and hollowed out for votive candles.  White mums and pittosporum berries from the floral dept. finish off this centerpiece.  You could also use bittersweet or cranberries.  I love this!

Mini White Pumpkins, berries, and pine-cones, laid on a vintage plate set this Autumnal scene beautifully and simply :)

Assorted pumpkins, fall leaves, and corn husks are all this table needs to say "Welcome to our Fall Table,  sit down and enjoy yourself".

Autumn Leaf Luminaries

You won't believe how easy and inexpensive these lovely leaf luminaries are to make.  I already had the large pedestal glass container ( I got it last year at TJ Maxx for $5.99).  The rest of my supplies were found at my local dollar store.  I had seen a version of these done with real leaves, while they were at their peak colors, but I wondered, what would they look like as time passed and the colors faded, so I came up with this version, and I really love how they turned out.  I hope you do too :)

Here are the supplies you'll need.
1 straight sided pedestal cylinder container ( I chose this one because it's large enough to hold a jar candle)
2 Cylinder vases ( I got these at the dollar store )
1-2 packages of fabric leaves, it's important that you get the ones without plastic veins on the back so that you can decoupage with them easier. I found these at the dollar store and they come 2 colors to a package.
White Elmers type glue
1 paintbrush
votive candles
Ribbon (optional)

I started by pouring my glue into a small plastic bowl and just brushing the entire back side of the leaf with the white glue, don't worry if some gets on the front, it will dry clear.  I chose to do 3 rows of colors but you can choose whatever pattern you  like. If you look closely at this photo you can see the glue is not completely dry yet.

Place the leaves on the glass and make sure to push down any loose ends so the entire leaf comes in contact with the glass. It took 12 leaves to do one of the small cylinders.  Now you just need to wait for the glue to dry.  You can see in this photo that I alternated the rows of leaves so each luminary started with a different color ( I worked from the bottom up ).

 Once the glue was dry, I tied an orange double satin ribbon around each luminary. This is completely optional, you could also use a different ribbon.

Here they are sitting on my antique piano style desk.  One of the things I love about these luminaries is that you could use them from September thru Thanksgiving.  You can make the 2 smaller luminaries for less than $5.00 ( the large one for less than $10.00) and they would make a lovely hostess gift.  You could sprinkle any leftover leaves on the table like you would rose-petals and it would add a beautiful touch to any Autumn table-scape. 

These really cast a magical glow of Autumnal colors at night.  I hope you give these a try, they're easy enough for the whole family to make, just make sure that only adults light the candles, or use flameless votives for a safer alternative :)